This wasn't in the job description...

So to all of you who thought that I would be coming to Zimbabwe to work as a nurse's aide with Naomi. Yeah... apparently the job description extended FAR beyond that. Let me list for you all of the jobs I have had since arriving at Karanda.

*Nurse aide for Naomi in peads ward

------BUT Naomi for quite sometime SO:

*dress Dambudzo's burns 

*act as a self-appointed, low-talent clown and make funny faces at the older kids in peads ward (if I did it to the young ones... they would cry because I am a scary white girl.)

*substitute teach for two days for 3rd and 5th graders

*serve as a exam-giver for nursing students (twice)

*be a computer teacher for the new secretary who knows absolutely nothing about computers

*chef (as explained in my previous post)

*jungle gym for the monkeys-- i mean local kids -- to hang on. 

*photographer/videographer - for when the long term missionaries want me to document everything

and on and on and on!

It has been a great and fun experience to see how God's plans for me differ everyday. 

There are four medical students here who I have become quite good friends with. They like to introduce me to fun aspects of Shona culture. I have been learning how to balance different things on my head (ex:  20L bucket of water ---which i have NOT mastered--- and a big bunch of banana freshly cut from the tree). They have also made me try matemba, a small, inch-long fish, that is served dried or fried. These fish are 33% eyeballs. Eww. Fried they taste a bit like sardines. But dried, i can't get past the fact that I am eating eyeball. In a couple days they are coming over to cook us a Shona meal (I love Shona meals). This meal with include madora. A more common name for madora is caterpillars. Yeah that's right, in 2 days time I will have consumed caterpillars! 

But don't think I am the only one trying new foods. We had them over the other night for s'mores. When we were in Harare it tooks us 5 stores to finally find marshmallows. So we got to roast them and served them with chocolate and marie buscuits- which are the closet thing they have to graham crackers. Eating them reminded me of VCBC and all the smores I have eaten around that campfire. The medical students thought that they were "so delicious!"

Today we went on more home visits to different HIV victims and  orphan caregivers. Usually we go to 5-8 houses. Today we went to 3. At the 3rd house we went to we met 3 ladies. The mother, her daughter, and the grandmother. The grandmother is the 1st out of 5 wives of the man who owns the big homestead. Her daughter, who is elderly as well, so I will call her "umbuya" out of respect, is deaf & mute and also has what is basically a fancy "peg leg." But umbuya was the sweetest old lady ever. To communicate with us, she would just move her arms around in some sort of unofficial sign language (I could not understand anything! But the chaplain could and that is all that matters). This woman is usually very stingy with everything - she would not even allow her own daughter to enter her house, they daughter lives with the grandmother. BUT! on this very day, Umbuya took us on a walk to her "garden" - aka her jungle of banana trees and papaya trees. She gave us 3 big bunches of bananas and 5 big paw-paw(papaya). We walked them almost all the way back before she stopped along the road and made us set now the fruit. We were to drive the truck back to the spot to pick them up so the other wives did not see that she was sharing with us. HA! What an experience it was! That took up a lot of time, so we headed back to Karanda instead of visiting more people. 

I am also very involved in the Kids Club here. This is a time when AIDS orphans can come and eat a meal and play with other kids. Whenever it is time for Kids Club and those kids see me walking to the area, they yell "Ellen! Ellen!" -- which I have started to accept as my name. Lynn, the 1st grade teacher, and the owner of the computer that I use, has picture of kids club on here, so I want to post some: 

This is Tafadswa. He was sick in peads ward for sometime. Would make faces at him and color with him. We became good friends. 

Vimbai & Chantelle are a couple of the girls. Vimbai loves to play with me and Chantelle once peed on Miss Lynn. =)

That is all for now. It is past my bed time!!

Please be praying for me as I have been sick with a cold and/or sinus infection for a week or so. Also Naomi is ill again. 

For the healing of Dambudzo's burns, and for the healing of her spirit.

For other SOSers who are starting, in the midst of, or wrapping up at their locations.

Please keep your encouraging emails and messages coming my way. They are blessings to me!